European markets slide lower, Italian spread stable

10/10/2012

Italy sells 11 billion euros worth of 3- and 12-month bonds

(ANSA) - Milan, October 10 - European stock exchanges lost
terrain again on Wednesday but the spread between Italian
10-year bonds and the benchmark German bund remained steady.
Milan's FTSE MIB index lost 0.41% to close at 15,440 points
despite modestly encouraging news on the industrial sector.
Industrial production levels in recession-hit Italy were up
in August for the first time in two months, Istat said on
Wednesday.
The national statistics agency said industrial output was
1.7% higher in August than in July, although it was still 5.2%
lower than in August of 2011 and automotive production plummeted
43.3%.
Frankfurt's DAX index also fell 0.41%, while Madrid's Ibex
35 index sank a significant 1%. Paris's CAC 40 index fell 0.50%
and London's FTSE-100 slid 0.58%.
The Italian Treasury sold 11 billion euros worth of
three-month and one-year bonds on Wednesday, but it had to offer
higher interest rates to attract buyers than at a similar sale
last month.
The average interest rate on the three-month BOT climbed
0.765% from 0.7% last time, while the average rate for 12-month
BOTs went up to 1.941% from 1.692%.
The spread between interest rates on Italian and German
10-year bonds remained stable, closing at 362 basis points.
The yield on Italian 10-year bonds was 5.11%.
Spanish 10-year bonds and the German benchmark had a
difference of 431 basis points.
The yield on the Spanish bond was 5.80%.